Shredding apparatus for cane



(No Model.)

H. A. HUGHES. SHREDDING. APPARATUS FOR CANE, &G. N0. 443,523.

Patented Dec.- 80, 189.0.

lA/VE/VTOR V ATTORNEY E, which secure the knives, pass through re-UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY ALBERT HUGHES, OF RIO GRANDE, NEIV JERSEY.

SHREDDING APPARATUS FOR CANE, 8L0.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,523, dated December30, 1890.

Application filed June 3, 1889. Serial No. 812,982. (No model.)

cane prior to diffusion, but which may also be applied to thedisintegration of dye-stuffs, licorice, and other substances from whichextracts, and so forth, may be obtained by diffusion processes.

My invention more particularly is an improvement upon the constructionof a cane shredding or disintegrating apparatus described and claimed byme in another application for Letters Patent now pending, Serial No.258,968, filed December 27, 1888, and has for its object the reductionof the cane or other material to a much finer state of disintegration.

The invention consists in the arrangement of two rotary cylinderscarrying knives so arranged and disposed that the cane or othermaterial, after being disintegrated by one cylinder, is subjected to theaction of the second cylinder, and so still more finely shredded, and inthe relative arrangement of the knives upon said cylinders, all ashereinafter more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal verticalsectional view of my shredding apparatus on the line X- X of Fig. 2.Fig. 2 is a plan view, portion being broken away on the line Y Y of Fig.1.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

A is a supporting'frame, in which are suitable bearings B for thehorizontal shaft 0,

on which shaft the knife-carrying cylinder D,

is fixed. The body of said cylinder is made of solid metal and has twoflat sides, against which the knives G are clamped between said sidesand the segmental portions'F. The bolts cesses in the backs, so that asthe protruding g edges of the knives wear away the bolts E may beloosened and the knives set forward. The

lies in a plane produced through the chord of the arc of theboundary'circle of the cylinder. The knife-supporting cylinderD isdisposed in an opening in the horizontal supporting-frame A, upon whichframe rests the cross-bar I. The bolts J pass through openings in theends of said bar and through elongated slots K in frame A. Upon theblock I is secured a fixed plate L. Passing through the upward flange Nof the frame A is a set-screw M, which bears against the rear side ofthe bar I. By loosening the bolts J and suitably moving the set-screw Nthe block I may be adjusted with its edges nearer to orifartherfrom thepath of travel of the knifeec ge.

R is an inclined slide, which may be set nearer to or farther from theknife-cylinder by means of the set-screws S.

Disposed above the cylinder D is a similar cylinder D, provided withknives G, secured by bolts E and so clamped between the body of thecylinder and the segmental portions F. The cylinderD' rotates inhearings in aframe A, similar to frame A, and on said frame rests ablock 1, similar to block I, adjusted with bolts J, similar to bolts J,and adjusted by screws M ,similar to screws M. The general arrangementof the cylinder D and its adjacent portions is similar to that of thecylinder D in the corresponding portion. The inclined slide R is likethe slide R and is adjusted in like manner by bolts S. Above thecylinder D is a hopper O, at the bottom of which is a sliding gate P,adjusted by means of the handle Q. The n1aterialsuch as -s ugar-caneto beoperated upon being first cut into small pieces, is placed in the hoppercorner or edge of the plate L, the eifect of the shred it, and this isdue not merely to the position of the knife upon the cylinder, but alsoto the extent of the clearance of the edge of the knife beyond thecylintier-periphery. If the knife is set out too far, it operates to cutoff pieces of the material and not to shred it. It, 011 the other hand,it be set with too small clearance, the material is apt to pack in theangle between the knife-blade and cylinder-surface-that is,below theknifeedge-and in such case the knifeedge no longer exerts anyshreddin geffect, but simply turns the pieces over and over as it passes them. Itis of course impossible to state any invariable distance to which theknife-edge must be set out in order to produce the best shreddingeffect, because that will depend in large measure upon the proportion ofthe knife-blades and cylinders that may be used in any given case. Ihave, however, described the knife-blade as adjustable in the cylinder,and a few trials with the blades set at differrent points will in anygiven case quickly show the best operating position.

Referring now to the condition when the knife-blade is placed so closeto the cylinder as that the material packs underneath it, it will beobvious that a limit is here set to the capacity of a machine containingonly a single cylinder for producing finelydisintegrated cane, forexample. New, I have found that there are many substances which it isdesirable to shred to a great degree of fineness, so as to allow theextraction of certain materials from them by the ditfusion in water at alow temperature, and I have also found that with a single cylinder it isimpracticable to bring them to the necessary degree of fineness. It isof great advantage to be able to disintegrate such materials, so thatdiffusion may replace the processes now employed for obtaining extractsfrom them. Take, for example, logwood, from which the dye is ordinarilyext acted by digesting the chips at a high temperature in a closedvessel. The extraction of the dyestuff is not only expensive, but thematerial itself comes out impure and mixed with resins and otherundesirable substances. So, also, in the case of sugar-cane or sorghum,especially when the latter is diffused by the process invented by me,wherein the shredded cane is placed in baskets, which baskets aresuccessively subjected to the action of independent bodies of hot waterin a series of successive vessels, the water dissolving the sugar fromthe cane containcd in the baskets, and thus becoming more and more densein each vessel until a given density is reached in each. I have foundthat by increasing the fineness of the shredding of the cane I maypractically double the capacity of each basket, and thus increase thecapacity of the battery, reduce the amount of water requiredproportional to the weight of the cane, and thus obtain a denser juice.

I have discovered that I can reduce cane or other material to almost anydegree of fineness by subjecting it to the action of successivecutting-cylinders, provided the knives in each successive cylinder havea less clearance beyond the eylinder-surface than the knives of the im med iately preceding cylinder; or, to put it another way, I have foundthat although a knife having a certain small clearance will becomechoked, and so rendered inoperative, if caused to act directly upon thecut-up cane, it will not so choke if the cane be first disintegrated bya cylinder the knives of which are set at a certain greater clearance.Thus, to illustrate, in once instance I have found that with a singleshredding-cylinder having the knives set with their edges one-eighthinch distant from the cylindersurface and running at eighteen hundredrevolutions a minute I could shred about forty tons of cane intwenty-two hours, the cylinder being provided with two knives. Reducingthe clearance of these knives to one-sixteenth of an inch, the yield ofthe machine fell almost to nothing, and it became very soon clogged; butI found on first operating upon the material with a cylinder having itsknives set at one-eighth-inch clearance and then subjecting it to theaction of a second cylinder having its knives at onesixteenth-inchclearance I could maintain the original rate of output and also securethe desired fineness of disintegration. By again repeating the shreddingoperation, using a cylinder with knives set at still smaller clearance,I can shred the material still finer, while still maintaining the yield.The construction shown in the drawings is intended only as oneembodiment of my invention, as I do not limit myself to cylinders of theprecise construction and arrangement of those here shown. It will beobserved that the knives G of the cylinder D are shown as having abouttwice the clearance of the knives G of the cylinder D, and that theblocks I and I are set with reference to the cylinders D and l) to leavea space or interval between the respective blocks and cylinderscorresponding to the extent of projection of the knives. Any desiredmeans of rotating the cylinders may be employed. I here illustrate abelt (I, rotating the cylinder D and a belt from the shaft of cylinder Dcommunicating with the shaft of cylinder D for rotating the last-namedcylinder, both cylinders revolving in the same direction, as indicatedby the arrows l. and 2.

I elaim- 1. The combination of two rotary cylinders, each ofuniformly-circular periphery, blades disposed with their edgeslongitudinally the surfaces of said cylinders and having their bodieslying in planes passing tln'ough'ehords of arcs of said cylinders, andsupports disposed in proximity to said cylinders, the edge of the bladeon one cylinder being set out from the surface thereof a certaindistance and the edge of blade on the other cylinder being set out fromthe surface thereof a certain relatively less distance, substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination of two rotary cylinders, each of uniformly-circularperiphery, blades disposed with their edges longitudinally the surfacesof said cylinders and having their bodies lying in planes passingthrough chords of arcs of said cylinders, and supports disposed inproximity to said cylinders, the said cylinders being disposed one belowthe other, so that the material after being operated upon by the bladeof one cylinder may fall by gravity in front of the second cylinder, andthe edges of the blade on one cylinderbeing set out from the surfacethereof a certain distance and the edge of the blade on the othercylinder being set out from the surface thereof a certain relativelyless distance, substantially as described.

HENRY ALBERT HUGHES. Witnesses:

JOSEPH WELDoN, W. B. MILLER.

